Pages

Monday, April 6, 2015

The Championship Game!

Our March Madness Fan Favorite Pattern Bracket is down to the final game:

Star Struck vs. Star Dance

Thanks to everyone who has helped narrow the patterns down from our original 50 to the Sweet Sixteen to these final two. As a thank you for your participation, this final round of voting will include the opportunity to win fabric prizes!Congratulations to Wendy Sheppard and Ann Lauer for creating the two quilts in our championship game! We interviewed the quilt designers of these two beauties so you can learn more about what inspired these designs and fabric choices before you vote. Help us choose the champion by voting in the comments and on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting. (see more voting details at the bottom of this post). And don't forget to download these free patterns (or any of the others that you can find in our Quilt Gallery).

I like that it looks traditional and
contemporary at the same time. You see the sawtooth star blocks? I am on
a personal quest to see just how many ways I can use sawtooth star blocks in my
designs.

How did
you choose the colors to use in it?

The way I chose the colors was to include as
many colors as I could, but still keep an ordered look. When I use a lot
of colors in a quilt, oftentimes I would finish out the border with either
black, gray or white. In this case, my go-to choices didn't bring out the
bright look I wanted for the quilt. So, I used red.

Can you
tell us a bit about the design?

This quilt is essentially a one block wonder
quilt. The blocks are simple in construction, and are created in many
colors to scrap up the overall look. The framed square blocks, spiced up with
the small sawtooth star blocks in all the colors, give the overall design a lot
to look at, I think. I am always excited when I can come up with
something with a lot of visual interest using simple blocks.

Why does
it work so well with the Caryl's Feather fabric?

Besides colors, the Caryl's Feather fabrics
themselves have a lot of movement and texture from the large feather prints
that are incorporated with the background colors. So, even though the
designs will work just as well with any basic line of fabrics, I think Caryl's
Feather really brings the design to a different level with the texture and
movement in the prints.

Ann talks about Star Dance:

What do you like best
about this quilt?

The design looks involved but it's actually
simple piecing so it can be made successfully by quilters from advanced
beginner up. It also a lot of components so there’s not too much
repetition—it’s fun to make. The pattern uses a very easy technique for flying
geese, four-patches, and an included template for the half rectangles.

Can you talk about how
this quilt shows off your Sundance prints?

The design is not crowded and the components
are large enough to let the details of the fabric show off. It has an airy
feeling. The black print is a geranium flower, so depending on where you cut
it, you’ll get a variety of red petals as well as green leaves. The green, red
and purple in the background are all delicate marbles with nice flowing
movement.

Can you tell us a bit
about the design?

The larger 10” squares help to highlight the
focal prints--true watercolor style of the large poppy and field of flowers
prints. The Irish Chain look that connects the blocks came about because I was
just having fun with four-patches, letting them dance across the
background. Plus, the pinwheels are not just HSTs—they are more
interesting but easy.

Tell us about the
flexibility of your design.

Of course, I think the pattern is beautiful
in the Sundance fabrics but it's designed to work for other collections as
well. You could also enlarge it into a twin-size quilt by adding pinwheel
borders to the top and bottom.

********************************************************

It's a battle of the stars!

Star Struck vs. Star Dance

Which one will be the fan favorite quilt pattern?

Here's how to vote AND how to enter the giveaway:

To vote: Leave a comment below with the name of your favorite quilt, Star Struck or Star Dance. One comment per person, please. You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting.Voting is now closed.

To enter the giveaway: Send an email to socialmedia23 (at) gmail.com with Battle of the Stars in the subject line.

Both the voting for Favorite Pattern and the giveaway will be open through Tuesday, April 7th at 5 pm EST. We'll announce the Favorite Pattern and giveaway winners on Wednesday.

Prizes: The grand prize winner will receive a box of 80 Sundance fat quarters. Runners-up will receive a bundle of 20 fat quarters from Daily Zen. We'll choose one runner-up for every 50 emails received. Winners will be randomly chosen from received emails and will be notified by email as well as announced here on the blog.

Good luck to both of these fantastic patterns!

To see the original bracket of sixteen and/or read the details of March Madness, click here.

Star Dance is my favorite. I think I can more easily use it in a variety of fabrics so will reuse the pattern more often. And I like the fun of making several components that are not difficult and provide such a delightful design.

Oh they are both so beautiful but the design and color scheme of Star Struck hit home with me. A beautiful design by Wendy Sheppard! Thank you for all of the awesome free patterns Benartex - they are always inspirational.

Star Dance - hard choice as I love both of them, but I love anything with an Irish chain and also the idea that you can make it bigger by adding the additional pinwheel borders. I think they should both win.

I choose Star Dance because the color scheme is one of my faves and I can also see it in other fabric lines. Star Struck is also beautiful, so it was a tough choice. Thanks for the fun contest and a chance in the giveaway!

Both quilts show the beauty of design and fabric ... yet, I must vote for STAR STRUCK. A wonderful quilt that is pleasing to the eye. Traditional with new, updated colors that work together. Thank you to both quilters who inspire and challenge and encourage.

Both quilts show the beauty of design and fabric ... yet, I must vote for STAR STRUCK. A wonderful quilt that is pleasing to the eye. Traditional with new, updated colors that work together. Thank you to both quilters who inspire and challenge and encourage.

Both are beautiful! I think both should win. A hard vote because one is a classic and the other modern. Star struck is a push pull unusual fresh design using small stars with large modern blocks. Due to the creativity I pick Star Struck.